


The Lion Beneath Skin

by corinnemaree



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Book: The Golden Compass, Dæmons, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 01:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10425861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinnemaree/pseuds/corinnemaree
Summary: Claire has always had a dæmon, and when that is threatened, the dynamic between her and Owen changes. They are the centre of it all and will fight to protect what they are.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know what i'm doing

When Claire was young, the little otter running around her feet was just another part of her. She never quite considered the fact that it would be such a large part of her life. The dæmon that was part of her was her friend, the closest thing to a twin as she could get. Then, when she realised she was special was when she went to school and there were kids without their dæmons in toe. The abandons. The ones that had lost their dæmons, either physically lost them or they had died. The abandons started to outnumber the dæmons, and it became clear that was how Claire’s life was going to go; protecting those who were being outnumbered.

The garlic bread that lingered in the air, only a few tables by was the best damn thing to happen to Claire all night. This was not the time or place that Claire wanted Evie to be acting up. Transforming from the otter to the wild horned owl that swam around the room like it was lighter than air - it wasn’t making this date easy to lie through. Of all things, she just wanted her dæmon to calm down, to stay quiet and for it to remain the fox she had intended. Then, he questioned her job and if she had really earned it. What a great date she was on. Eventually Evie started to swoop at Claire’s date and she had to excuse herself. The moment Claire was left outside with Evie, she placed the owl on the trashcan, staring it down.

The wind was crisp and hand Claire clinging to her red coat as her short black dress was doing little for warmth. She glared down at her dæmon to keep her mind focused. “I know you’re just my inner feelings, but did you really have to swoop him?” she berated as the dæmon shrugged. Evie just  _ shrugged _ at her. Claire’s brow crinkled before huffing and Evie perched herself onto Claire’s shoulder, walking down the street with both sulking. 

Dæmons were sometimes confused in mythology - a difficult thing to pin down over the course of time, because people only wrote about certain instances. The creatures that were bound to the human soul - a dæmon - appeared in animal form. And yes, in the early written instances of dæmons existing, it was said that there was only one that represented the inner self. In reality though, there was a dæmon form for almost every emotion, shifting and manifesting whenever the soul was pulled to something in such a way. The annoyance of Claire’s date manifested as a horned owl. There was no need to decipher what the animals meant - they meant something to the person and asking about their dæmon was like asking about someone’s sex life.

“The Owl. Someone must have pissed you off,” a familiar voice called behind her. That same cocky and confident voice that Claire was far too akin to. She turned, seeing Owen Grady walking with his daemon by his side; a pale blonde haired wolf. 

Claire had known Owen for a long time; nearly ten years. They met in University studying the same thing, though they both acknowledged that they never expected the other to be taking such a course. It was a complicated turn of events that led the two conflicting personalities to become close friends and colleagues over the years. When daemon owners studied up on their existence, there was only one thing they were doing; joining the daemon field. A group that protected daemons and their owners from abandons who were usually extremists. 

Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to see Owen after her date that night and she contained the nervous feeling at the edges of her fingers. “You should know,” Claire smirked and Evie formed into the otter once more, racing over her shoulder with excitement. “How is Ricky?” she asked, watching as the wolf pounced down, transforming into a golden retriever and its rear in the air, tail wagging rapidly. Owen rubbed at his shoulder, the wound most likely being healed at this point, but it was probably still causing him pain.

“Doing good. The injury really put us in a bind. I don’t think he liked being stuck as the coyote for so long,” he shrugged. Claire shifted her weight onto her opposite hip.

“I thought your coyote was meant for fear,” she questioned and suddenly, Ricky transformed into a large bull, dark coat and thick horns. Ricky pushed into Owen’s back, his head staying at the centre and his horns the only visible part of his head. Embarrassment. Owen rubbed at his neck. 

“Well, I just exposed myself far more than I intended,” he said with a chuckle ending his words. 

“Oh, god. I’m sorry,” Claire said, trying to contain her laugh, but Evie had collapsed over Claire’s shoulder, laughing with it’s tight little otter squeak. Claire flicked the side of Evie’s neck and she snapped, racing down her arm and sitting at the edge of her leg, sitting down as the red-haired fox she usually appeared as. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Owen remarked, the bull shifting back to the wolf and the two began to walk down the street, both their houses on the same block. 

“But you’re doing okay?” Claire asked, their dæmons racing back and forth behind their feet, playing with each other as Claire and Owen talked.

“Yeah. We’re going good. Back at it. It feels weird to put Ricky in containment when I’m at work. I just hope he understands,” Owen said, glancing back to see Evie race underneath Ricky and for the wolf to become confused and unsure of where the fox had gone. With a soft jump nearby, Evie managed to spook Ricky and the two began playing again. 

“Whenever I take Evie into work, I always feel like I’m neglecting her when I have board meetings,” Claire confirmed. “I think there comes a time where you realise they aren’t pets. They’re us.” 

“I think I kind of forget that I don’t necessarily need to take care of Ricky and take care of myself,” he sighed, smiling at the edge of his lips. Claire scoffed, knocking her hip against Owen’s.

“Wow, look who can get deep and philosophical,” she teased, smiling widely towards the tall and toned man beside her

“Shut up,” he said, ducking his head away. When his head rose again, Claire was shocked to see Ricky nearly as tall as Owen and in a completely different form - tall and noble, the stag walked beside Owen with grace and ease. 

“Never seen Ricky like that,” Claire gasped, stopping their walk. Owen turned to see Ricky, a little shocked by his appearance as Claire was. She came around, admiring that it was almost like a moose, yet it had all the soft features and majestic antlers that came about for stags. “He’s very handsome,” Claire commented.

“Look at Evie,” Owen said and as she turned, she saw Evie in the shape of a small blue bird, chirping and singing on Owen’s finger, completely enchanted by him. Claire could understand the feeling; then it all dawned on her. “Why do you have all the cool dæmon animals?” Owen asked suddenly, shocking her into reality. 

“Owen,” Claire huffed, tucking hair behind her ear and shaking her head slightly, watching him. “You have a wolf,” she reminded and Owen rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, but you have an owl. And a fox!” Owen reminded her in excitement. Claire giggled, Evie chirping away around Owen’s head. Ricky had moved around to Claire’s side, nudging her slightly and Claire couldn’t help but brush her hand along his neck, feeling how soft he was and kind he was to her. “What do I have? A cow for embarrassment,” he huffed. “My inner self just wants me to have all the embarrassment and regret possible.” 

“Hey! I like the cow look on Ricky. He looks so sad but he’s still gorgeous,” Claire retorted, smiling to him. Claire stopped at the edge of her gate, looking back at Owen as Ricky stood nobly by. 

“Claire,” Owen started.  “Are you busy on Friday night?” 

Evie chirped in Claire’s ear. She smiled before biting her lip. “No. But you’re going to have to give me a better ask out then that,” she replied, walking up the path. She stopped when Evie started to tug at her dress. “I’m expecting a call tomorrow night, Grady,” she called out, glancing over her shoulder. Ricky twirled around, almost knocking Owen over. Claire held in her laugh as she opened her saw. She watched Owen and Ricky walk down the street, stopping at one point for Owen to grab hold of Ricky’s antlers and shake his head excitedly. 

Evie had taken herself down to Claire’s feet, simply in her fox form. Claire raised her eyebrow at her. “You couldn’t have stayed a fox? Had to give yourself away?” But she realised that was only really speaking to herself. She only had her own feelings to blame. Love was such a difficult thing to define, but when a dæmon was around, they had a way of emulating every ounce of love that their owner contained. 

As always, Evie made herself comfortable, curling up on her spot on the couch as Claire went and changed. Leaving the TV on for Evie, Claire could still hear the news playing out in between another show that she had forgotten to get the name of. Switching from her dress, she placed on sweatpants, a tank top and began tying up her hair, hearing the news feed into her bedroom. 

“In breaking news, with those with dæmons. Please be advised that there is a spree killing of all dæmons. Mass groups of abandons have taken to the streets and breaking into people’s homes to take away their dæmons and putting them to rest. Please be warned that the following content has been demeaned graphic.”

Claire didn’t even bother looking at the news, immediately racing to her phone and dialling as many emergency number as she was able to be in contact with. She was on the phone for at least forty minutes, arguing and trying to get her forces out into the streets to prevent further outbreaks and deaths. Claire had a fuming fox at her side, knowing that if she wasn’t careful, she could be dealing with something far more hostile. 

“Yes, I understand that, but why haven’t the police been -” she was interrupted and she huffed, her hand on her hip. “No, I don’t want excuses. We’re dealing with abandons here. They can be violent without their dæmons and new ones still bitter about their loss can be -” She was interrupted once more. “Listen, just call me or Grady if you have any news,” Claire chimed angrily, hanging up her phone. Within a matter of seconds, her phone was being hailed. Glancing down, her phone read missed calls from Owen, at least ten with a scattered number of messages.

She answered in a hurry. “Claire, get out of the house.” 

“What?” 

“Get your bags and go! They’re coming,” Owen shouted, sounding out of breath, as if he were running himself. Claire peered through her curtain, seeing the mass amount of men and women storming into homes nearby. 

Wrenching all of her belongings together, as much that could fit inside a large backpack. Then, there was a hard knocking on the front door. Claire saw Evie shift into the black cat that always had everything standing on end - Claire never liked seeing Evie like that. As Claire grabbed hold of Evie, a hand clasped around her mouth. She tried to scream before she was turned to see Owen. He held a finger to his lips before racing them out the backdoor. Ricky was waiting by the door, the wolf form keeping watch.

Dashing out, Claire let Evie run off with Ricky, the fox and the wolf raced off ahead of Claire and Owen. They both climbed over the back fence, Owen helping Claire over as they were breathing hard. He constantly glanced over to her, before breaking the bottom plank of the fence to let the two dæmons through. Making their way through backstreets and side roads just to get to Owen’s car was making Claire incredibly anxious, trying to keep track of Evie as closely as possible.

As the car was just a few houses down from them, Claire found it hard to breathe. She collapsed down to her knees and Owen turned, watching as Claire crumbled and clutched at her throat. He bent down, inspecting her with cautious eyes. Claire clawed desperately at her neck before she clutched at Owen’s jacket. 

“Where is Evie?” Claire asked, gasping for air. Owen helped Claire to her feet as they witnessed a man wrenching at Evie as the black cat screeched and struggled. The man held tightly around Evie’s neck and then he squeezed just to gauge the reaction from Claire. She crumbled against Owen’s side before trying to gain the strength to rescue her dæmon, but she was weak. Owen glanced down at her before pulling out his gun, aiming it at the man.

“If you value your existence, you will not make that woman angry,” Owen warned. The man smirked, trying to squeeze Evie again. When she yelped, Claire felt the rage wipe through her. Owen stepped forward, his anger bubbling over too as Ricky began snarling and painfully shifting. Evie herself transformed and flattened the man with her weight. In her anger, Claire had shaped Evie into a Grizzly bear. Claire yelled Evie’s name and Claire felt the claws of her dæmon ready. Lifting her weight onto her hind legs, Evie swiped down, scaring the man before landing hard onto him again, biting at his neck. He yelled and screamed as Ricky came in front of Claire and Owen, shaped as a large and fierce lion. “Told you not to, man,” Owen commented as Evie raced back over to Claire.

They continued racing, the two rage filled dæmons in toe and shifting back into their neutral forms when they got to the car. Claire stood by the door as she tried to breathe, her hands resting against the car as she tried to take in deep breaths. She had almost lost Evie, a part of her that could never be replaced. She was breathing harder and faster than before, unable to catch her breath. When she looked down at Evie, she was her cat self again, cradling against Ricky’s paw, who tried to comfort Evie. Owen gripped Claire’s shoulders before his hands went to either side of her face. 

“Are you okay?” he asked. If anyone were to know what Claire was going through, it would be Owen. She was still struggling to breathe, her hands clutching into his shirt and her attention almost unobtainable. 

“Where is Ricky? Do you have everything? I can’t risk leaving anything behind,” she said, trying to get her thoughts to silence.

“Claire!” Owen snapped. He huffed, leaning down and their foreheads touching. “Are you okay?” he asked again. Claire breathed with him, shutting her eyes and nodding. She leaned back against the car.

“We have to get to the safe house.” 

They climbed into the car, the dæmons resting in the backseat. Claire rested against the side of the door, her fingers fiddling with one another. Hours of this and the silence; they didn’t want music or the news to distract them or haunt them. It was becoming more and more difficult to sustain the silence, both wanting to talk but not sure what else to say. Owen eventually bit the bullet and his hand slid to hers, grabbing hold of one of her hands as his attention stayed on the road. 

“They’re coming for us, Claire,” he told her, shock rippling through her chest. “All of them.” 

“Even -” 

“Yes.” 

“Then we better be prepared to fight,” she swallowed, gripping into his hand. Owen squeezed back, glancing into the backseat briefly, the two dæmons resting peacefully. 

“They’re not going to know what hit them,” Owen confirmed and Claire breathed in hard breaths. It was either going to bring everyone closer, or the two of them would see their end before anything had even started. 


End file.
